A couple of weeks back, the Gabula Royal Foundation co-hosted with Civsource Africa Foundation, the first leaders’ summit in Jinja. The three-day event was a mixed bag of firsts. A community walk, a charity outreach and a cross generational round the first interaction between young leaders from select civil society organizations and the past leaders of Busoga region.
In retrospection about the event, I realized it was a personal reminder to the importance of giving your all through people.
Early in life, I learned two things that, for now, keep me going:
- Never to set my expectations so high about anything. In high school where I learned this, the advice was, ‘Never get into an examination room with preconceived questions’.
- To always do my part and let the results naturally play out… and always cheerfully be ready to receive and deal with the consequences of my input. In primary school where I learned this, it was pumped into my head through the rear when, one day, after I failed in my role as the of the headmaster’s office keys, I was given twenty strokes of the cane and on each stroke, I was asked to shout the word responsibility to the class and its meaning.
By those two, I avoid the pressure that comes with trying to engineer results far beyond my control and never have the I-wish-I-did-this type of regrets that come with not giving a target your all.
I have been in the business of organizing things from way back. The Inaugural Leaders’ Summit was, however, a new challenge. The early morning bit was always going to be easy. Identifying a walking route? Child’s play! Identifying a model farmer to show “banaKampala” around his/ her farm? Shya! Which proud farmer doesn’t want to show off their crops and potential harvest?
As for the old ladies and the aerobics session and the donations to the school, I have been working in that same community for over five years as a grassroots community organizer. So that was easy too. But the leadership summit is in the evening! How do you get sixty-five and above year-olds to travel from over ten kilometers to come to an evening campfire to discuss leadership? How do you even make them stay till the end?
I had my two lessons in my pocket. I knew that for both activities, the easy morning session and the evening summit, I had to do my part and leave no room for regrets. When the discussion to host the leaders in Jinja happened, I did not know what to expect-event, and I decided not to take my mind there. What I knew, however, was that it was going to be a first-of-its kind type of event.
How then do you pull off a first-of-its-kind event? I made sure my team owned the event. I briefed them to understand that it’s neither mine nor Civsource Africa’s event but theirs. From the village old ladies who rehearsed songs and dances to the young fellow who worked the phones to keep in touch with the veteran leaders to the driver who ensured he dropped those leaders who required a lift, they all understood they were not doing it for Isaac but themselves as their contribution to this first-of-its-kind effect in Busoga.
My teammates long learned that the line, so and so did not do this or that, does not exist in our review meetings because the question would then be, what did you do about it? Looking back at the leadership summit, that attitude was helpful because everyone on the team worked towards shared success.
As I walked the eight kilometers and later sat around the fire, I wondered, “How come the children of this area have never come together to walk around their community, interact with their folk, and have a roast in the evening to discuss issues that are of mutual interest: Leadership, education, health, the road network, taxation, access to water? What can I do about it?”
No wonder, when the Rt. Honourable Deputy Prime Minister spoke, she called on me to ensure it was simply the beginning of many such engagements. The children of these communities should not merely watch news on television about their communities. They should occasionally be mobilized to return and have honest conversations with their home folk. Inclusive leadership. If Civsource Africa’s event is to go by, shared responsibility in organizing would be key in ensuring that mobilization is a success.
